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A Bug Died Here

If there is a single term that describes Spain’s extractive elite it is “criminal impunity”. Criminal because they are corrupt thieves, and impunity because they still walk among over us in freedom. The impunity, however, does not extend beyond the legal code and does not grant bulletproofness, which is a lesson the politico class seemed to have forgotten since the defeat of the Basque trrrists. Their collective memory got a good jog with the recent assassination of a small city mayor, shot in the street by two women in what appears to be a meticulously planned vendetta. This killing has caught the politicos off-guard, because it doesn’t fit into any pre-existing pigeonhole: it wasn’t political in nature so it can’t be called trrrism, the perps are a mother and daughter of impeccable standing, and the weapon used was a firearm, which is still relatively rare in a country where the population is effectively disarmed. In an ironic twist, the gun was borrowed from family friend, a cop. So much for the praetorian guard!

From the politico class point of view, the take-home points of this crime are 1. the victim was a politica (of the ruling Pay Pay party), and 2. the cause seems to be related to an old dispute stemming from her acts as mayor. While in public the adjectives chosen by the president to label the crime –“absurd, pointless, vicious”– make it seem like a random mugging gone wrong, in private the implications of politicos getting gunned down in the street by disgruntled citizens does not escape anyone. In this regard, it is worth noting the dead politica had thirteen paying positions, earned more in travel expenses than salary and exemplified the deep, entrenched corruption of Spain’s politico elite. That this may in some way have contributed to her untimely demise is keeping more than one corrupt official awake at night.

The dank odor of fear emanating from Spanish officialdom came on strong when they sent the cops after all the dimwits who cheered the murder on social networks, in writing and in song (they’re still looking for the person who spraypainted the crime scene pavement with the lapidary “a bug died here” pictured above). Of course, they know the ones who post in public are not the ones they have to worry about, but that’s just how scared they are that this might go viral. As well they should be. If they could hear what the man on the street has to say about this whole affair, they would lock themselves in a bunker and declare martial law. Decent folks don’t celebrate the murder of another human, but that doesn’t mean they disagree with the motives. Six years ago, when the crisis started, it would have been impossible to generate such public indifference to the fate of murdered politico, or the pervasive feeling of hope that one way or another justice will be served to all men.

Which brings us back to the impunity of the politico-banxter cartel. They made the laws to ensure their crimes are never prosecuted, and therefore have shut off the possibility of serving justice within the law. When justice is not served within the law, it will be served without it, in the realm where impunity does not reach. Most folks would be satisfied seeing corruption punished with stiff prison sentences, but since it is obvious by now that isn’t going to happen, some people are willing to take matters into their own hands. Not trrrists, crazies, hitmen or mafia, but a mother and daughter of a small Spanish city with a grudge to settle. In other words: any man or woman, anywhere, at any time. Hello paranoia! Are those footsteps behind m….?

Stop for a moment and ask yourself the following: what leads two women of good standing to throw away their lives to murder their sworn enemy, who just happened to be a prominent politico? Well, aside from the sociopathic factor –only a small percentage of the population would plot such a deed, and even fewer actually go through with it– the bottom line is that the victim was the most powerful person in the region and the perpetrators knew they would never get the justice they thought she deserved from the courts. From there to two bullets in the street is the result of a thought process that the aforemention small percentage may find quite logical.

In six years of upward weath redistribution aka crisis, a majority of Spanish citizens have given up on the system. It was only a question of statistical probability over time for that small percentage of really driven nutwings to manifest, and now that the precedent is set the natural tendency is that the results be replicated with more ease, as per Sheldrake’s isomorphic field theory. That said, nobody in their right mind would want to see this become a trend, because shooting people like dogs in the street is not going to take us anywhere good, no matter how vile a person the victim is. However, to paraphrase the old saying, sometimes a cold-blooded murder in time saves nine. I for one am satisfied that the seed of doubt has been firmly planted in the minds of the elite plunderers, for those who the gods would destroy, they will drive mad first. Wait, did you hear tha…?